- February 6, 2025
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When Hannah Harrison was in her junior year at Spruce Creek High School, she began looking for a way to give back to the people around her.
As the months went by, no ideas came to her. It wasn’t until January of 2018, Harrison’s senior year, that she started thinking of Valentine’s Day.
From what Harrison had seen from her peers, the holiday wasn’t a positive one for many people and was seen in a negative light, especially for those students who were single or didn’t receive anything but still saw other people getting gifts.
“I thought, Valentine’s Day usually has such a negative stereotype at this school,” Harrison said. “I wanted to turn that around and make it a positive experience.”
With a goal of what she wanted to do, Harrison started working on her plan — she began cutting out paper hearts. Throughout January and February, Harrison spent days with a pair of scissors making the Valentine’s hearts and writing positive notes on each one.
Each message was the equivalent of “you are loved.” Some had “you are precious” on them, others had “you are cherished.” But the theme was the same and the message clear.
A few members of Harrison’s family helped with producing the hearts and by mid February, 3,250 hearts with their own message had been made.
Harrison kept the hearts a secret, only telling Spruce Creek Principal Todd Sparger and another administrator about her plan.
“I was touched not only by the sentiment she was hoping to spread across our campus, but also the effort of cutting out 3,200 hearts and writing a personal message on each one,” Sparger said. “In light of the tragic news out of South Florida this week, we realize how important her message is — ‘you are very loved.’”
On Tuesday, Feb. 13, the day before Valentine’s Day, Harrison and a few family friends brought all of the hearts to the school around 5:30 p.m. and for two hours taped them to each locker.
The next day, every student was welcomed by their own heart with a message. And the response was overwhelmingly positive, according to Harrison.
As the day went on, students began finding out who had made the hearts with the overall reaction being one of amazement.
For Harrison, the positive reaction from such a large number of students was more than she had hoped for.
“My one goal was that if I could make just one person’s day, then that was sufficient,” Harrison said. “I’ve been so overwhelmed by the responses I’ve gotten.”
According to Sparger, later this month, the school will add to what Harrison started by initiating a campaign called “You Matter.”
Sparger said it will provide a way to let students know that they each have a specific skill or gift to offer the world and that is why their life matters.
“We want our students to appreciate their specific genius and to understand the genius of others,” Sparger said.
And even though Harrison will soon be graduating, she said she hopes other students will take that extra step to do something, even if it is small, for someone else.
“We can always be a light,” Harrison said. “The simplest things can make someone’s day.”
